This is a short general-information note on developments that have been showing up in Bay Area real estate, land use, and California landlord-tenant work. It is not legal advice and does not address any particular property or tenancy. Confirm current statutes, ordinances, and case filings before relying on them.
San Pablo’s Measure S is passing. In the unofficial Contra Costa count reported on November 6, the rent stabilization and tenant protection initiative had about 59.8% yes. As KQED summarized it, the measure caps annual increases at the lower of 3% or 60% of inflation, extends protections to mobile home park residents, raises no-fault relocation payments to the greater of four months of market rent or $12,000, and rolls rents back to a base date: for tenants in place on July 1, 2025, increases are calculated from the rent charged on that date. The count is not certified, and the effective date and exemptions should be read in the ordinance text, not a news summary. San Pablo owners who raised rents after July 1, 2025, should look at that rollback question now.
Two other Bay Area rent measures went different ways. In Berkeley, Measure X, which amends the existing Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Just Cause Ordinance, was passing with about 69% yes in Alameda County’s unofficial count. According to Bay City News, it caps any single-year increase at 10% to stop “banking” of deferred increases and lets tenants in five-to-ten-unit buildings form tenant associations the landlord must deal with in good faith. In Redwood City, a rent control initiative, Measure E, was trailing in early returns.
Two state items are worth calendaring. The Department of Real Estate’s November 3 summary of new real estate laws describes SB 1296, effective April 1, 2027, which requires landlords to post or link the written pet policy in online listings and hand a copy out with every rental application, with an application-fee refund if an applicant drops out because it was not disclosed. The same summary describes AB 2025, which requires rental ads that use digitally altered photos to say so and to provide the unaltered images, and SB 1365, which tightens post-emergency price-gouging rules for rental housing. Separately, the Civil Rights Department launched an online letter generator on November 4 for tenants requesting reasonable accommodations or modifications. Landlords should expect more of these requests to arrive in a standard written form and should have a consistent process for answering them.
In Richmond, the Planning Commission on November 5 approved the conditional use permit, design review permit, and EIR addendum for the wet gas scrubber at the Chevron refinery (PLN24-098), according to a summary of the KCRT meeting video; formal minutes are not yet posted. The project still needs Air District, Regional Water Board, and building approvals, and the City keeps a project page with the documents. The Rent Board’s continued study session on applying rent control to Section 8 and LIHTC housing is set for its November 18 meeting, which the Board has described as its last regular meeting of the year; Regulations 202 and 204 and Resolution 19-01 remain unchanged until it acts.
Rules and dockets change. Read the current text and the actual file, not a weekly summary.